Scottish Executive

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to deal with alcohol problems in (a) young people and (b) all other age groups.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Plan for Action on alcohol problems , published in January last year, sets out a range of measures to reduce alcohol-related harm in Scotland. Action is grouped into the areas of culture change, prevention and education, providing support and treatment services, protection and controls for individuals and the wider community and delivery. The two key priorities of the plan are to reduce binge drinking and reduce harmful drinking by children and young people.

  In September last year we published an Alcohol Problems Support and Treatment Services Framework to provide guidance to those involved in planning, commissioning and managing services. This identified a range of ways in which services could respond to specific and more general needs.

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it collects statistics on alcohol-related accidents from accident and emergency units.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The information requested is not held centrally.

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it intends to take forward its campaign to raise awareness of the dangers of excess alcohol consumption, How much is too much?.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Executive is currently reviewing the How much is too much? campaign following completion of the first phase last year.

  Learning from this review will be used to take forward a communications campaign which will seek to integrate core national messages with local priorities identified by Alcohol Action Teams.

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will develop guidelines for alcohol education as part of the school curriculum to support the implementation of the Plan for Action on alcohol problems .

Cathy Jamieson: Alcohol education forms part of health education in schools, specifically within drug education. Guidelines already exist in the form of 5-14 Health Education Guidelines which were published in October 2000, together with a Guide for Teachers and Managers. These offer a framework within which education authorities should develop their health education programmes including alcohol education.

  The 2001-02 drug education survey published in October 2002 indicted that 99% of Scottish schools provide alcohol education.

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it intends to announce funding to improve service provision consistent with the Plan for Action on alcohol problems .

Mrs Mary Mulligan: Consideration is being given to funding a range of initiatives as part of the spending review, the outcome of which will be announced later this year.

Alcohol Misuse

Jackie Baillie (Dumbarton) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it will ensure that there is an adequate supply of trained alcohol counsellors to support the implementation of the Plan for Action on alcohol problems .

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Executive provides core funding for Alcohol Focus Scotland to support Local Councils on Alcohol provide individual counselling and support for people with alcohol problems. Section 9 funding is also provided as a contribution to training costs.

Cancer

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what support it is giving to the medical director at the Beatson Oncology Centre in Glasgow in relation to recruiting at least five clinical oncologists at the centre.

Malcolm Chisholm: National and international recruitment continues to be pursued against the background of recognised shortages in the oncology specialties across the UK. In this, the Beatson Oncology Centre is supported by the HR Department within the North Glasgow University Hospitals NHS Trust. Dr Bryson and his colleagues continue to have the full support of the Chief Executive of Greater Glasgow NHS Board, the Chief Executive of the North Glasgow Trust and the Scottish Executive.

Child Protection

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many children abused through prostitution are currently under the care of social work services.

Cathy Jamieson: The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution.

  The working group has established that there is a lack of data on the numbers of young people sexually exploited through prostitution and has proposed that research should be commissioned by the Executive on the scope of the problem.

Child Protection

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will establish appropriate accommodation, such as places of safety, for vulnerable children including children abused through prostitution.

Cathy Jamieson: Local authorities have powers under the Children (Scotland) Act 1995 to provide short-term refuges for children who appear to be at risk of harm. The role of the local authority in providing refuge is to provide the child with somewhere safe to stay and any other services consistent with safeguarding the child’s welfare.

  The Executive has established a working group containing a range of external experts to consider the support needs of children who run away from home and children abused through prostitution. The working group has suggested that the Executive should undertake an assessment of how local authorities are meeting the needs of young people for refuge, the levels of demand and examine models of good practice before issuing additional guidance on the provision of refuge support.

  The Executive has identified up to £600,000 in funding to take forward work on refuge provision and £57,000 for a study led by Barnardo’s to identify effective services for young people abused through prostitution, with a particular focus on ensuring that there are alternatives to secure accommodation.

Child Protection

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many police officers are currently being investigated as a result of Operation Ore regarding the activities of suspected paedophiles.

Mr Jim Wallace: The investigations surrounding Operation Ore, which cover all eight Scottish police force areas, are on-going. I am advised that two police officers are among those being investigated and that a report on each case has been sent to the procurator fiscal. At this stage, it would be inappropriate to give any further details.

Children in Care

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of children in private residential care homes have been prescribed Ritalin and similar class drugs in each of the last five years.

Malcolm Chisholm: Prescription data collected centrally are not patient-specific.

Environment

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it was notified that the Central Science Laboratory had been given permission by the Advisory Committee on Pesticides to carry out trials with the chemical T3327 at the Dundrennan range in Kirkcudbrightshire and, if so, when.

Allan Wilson: Scottish ministers authorised the issue of an experimental permit on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Pesticides. This was conveyed to the Central Science Laboratory on 19 August 2002.

Environment

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Environment Protection Agency or Scottish Natural Heritage were notified of trials being carried out by the Central Science Laboratory with the chemical T3327 at the Dundrennan range in Kirkcudbrightshire.

Allan Wilson: Scottish ministers consulted Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) before determining the Central Science Laboratory’s application for an experimental permit. SNH separately granted a licence to the Laboratory to interfere with badger setts in order to take measures to protect badgers from coming into contact with T3327 during the trial period.

  The Scottish Environment Protection Agency was not notified. Advice on the possible environmental effects of the trial was given to Scottish ministers by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency.

Environment

Nora Radcliffe (Gordon) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance will require local authorities and consultants to always consider the impact on carbon dioxide emissions and the Scottish contribution to the UK targets under the Kyoto protocol when evaluating transport proposals and what weighting will be given to these issues.

Lewis Macdonald: The Kyoto target for the reduction in greenhouse gases is contained within the Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG) and practitioners are required to calculate the change in emissions of CO 2 for all projects appraised.

  STAG does not prescribe weightings to the five criteria (environment, safety, economy, integration and accessibility) against which transport proposals are appraised. The relative weight given to each criterion is for the decision-maker to decide in light of the specific objectives of each proposal.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive for how long the effort limitation measures agreed at the EU Fisheries Council in December will be in place.

Ross Finnie: In legal terms, the interim regime will lapse when the Total Allowable Catches and quota regulation 2341/2202 (of which it is a part) lapses at the end of the year. However, there is a political commitment to bring forward a successor regime for agreement by Council at the end of March 2003 and implementation at the beginning of July 2003.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive on what basis it stated in its press release SEen278/2002 that fishermen in cod-related fisheries will be able to fish for 15 days per month, given that Annex XVII to regulation 2341/2002 states that the number of days in which vessels in such fisheries may be absent from port is nine.

Ross Finnie: As provided for by Article 6 of Annex XVII to Regulation 2341/2002, the Commission has undertaken to provide an additional six days to the relevant fishermen. This will be confirmed in due course as an official Commission decision recorded in the Official Journal of the European Communities .

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what fee is payable to (a) GPs, (b) hospital doctors, (c) pharmacists, (c) dentists, (d) nurses and (e) veterinary surgeons for carrying out a homeopathic treatment.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: There are no fees specific to homeopathic treatment payable within the NHS. The clinicians who provide homeopathic services are remunerated on the same basis as they would be for conventional treatment. Homeopathic practitioners outwith the NHS, including veterinary surgeons, set their own fees.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any market research has been carried out to measure what percentage of the public are in favour of complementary medicine being made widely available on the NHS since the MORI poll in 1989, showing 74% of the public as in favour.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Executive has not commissioned any such market research, and has not been made aware of any recent poll on the subject. There is no barrier to the provision of complementary medicine through the NHS in Scotland. Decisions on whether to provide any particular form of complementary medicine are for NHS boards to make, based on their assessment of local needs.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what evidence exists on the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of complementary medicine.

Mrs Mary Mulligan: The Department of Health maintains a National Research Register with details of all on-going and recent medical research, including research into complementary medicine. This is available on regularly updated CD-ROM in the Parliament’s Reference Centre and online at:

  http://www.update-software.com/nrr/CLIBINET.EXE?A=1&U=1001&P=10001.

Justice

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32365 by Mr Jim Wallace on 17 December 2002, under what other circumstances prosecuting authorities in Scotland will ignore an offence committed under clauses 59 and 69 of the Criminal Justice Bill in Scotland on the basis that a similar offence has been committed in another jurisdiction.

Michael Matheson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-32366 by Mr Jim Wallace on 17 December 2002, where a publication whose area of distribution is restricted to Scotland, or a part of Scotland, includes a report in contravention of the reporting restrictions in clauses 59 or 69 of the Criminal Justice Bill, whether a person suspected of an offence under those clauses would be prosecuted in Scotland.

Mr Jim Wallace: I refer the member to the answer given to question S1W-32784 on 13 January 2003. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at   http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Justice

Scott Barrie (Dunfermline West) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many witnesses below 10 years old appeared in (a) sheriff courts and (b) the High Court in 2001.

Mrs Elish Angiolini: The information requested is not available.

Roads

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-30382, S1W-31275 and S1W-32194 by Lewis Macdonald on 5 November, 2 December and 13 December 2002 respectively, whether it would be acting within its legal powers in requiring local authorities to meet the cost of changes or alterations to trunk road signs not instigated by the Executive and what the legal basis or precedent is for its position on the matter.

Kay Ullrich (West of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S1W-30382, S1W-31275 and S1W-32194 by Lewis Macdonald on 5 November, 2 December and 13 December 2002 respectively, what specific document records the policy and practice of Scottish ministers in relation to changes or alterations to trunk road signs; what legal standing the policy and practice of ministers as referred to in the answer to questions S1W-30382 and S1W-32194 has, and whether the policy and practice of ministers in relation to this matter could in any way conflict with existing law with regard to local authority responsibilities and contract law on trunk road signs.

Lewis Macdonald: The practice of the Scottish ministers of requesting local authorities to meet the cost of changes or alterations to trunk road signs not instigated by the Executive is a matter of policy, and is not based on statutory provision or any specific document. It is not considered that there is any legal impediment to this practice.

Roads

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will introduce a 30 mph speed limit on the A84 through Lochearnhead.

Lewis Macdonald: It is anticipated that the 30 mph speed limit on the A84 through Lochearnhead will come into force in February 2003.

Roads

Dr Sylvia Jackson (Stirling) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what progress has been made in improving safety on the A84 and A85.

Lewis Macdonald: The following works on the A84/85 were completed last year:

  verge safety fences were replaced;

  carriageway warning signs were erected and two surface dressing schemes carried out at Glen Ogle;

  road maintenance scheme between Dunbeg and Oban Phase 1, and

  road maintenance scheme between Airds Bay and Fearnoch Phase 1 and 2.

  The following works on the A84/85 are programmed for completion this year:

  a 30 mph speed limit through Lochearnhead should come into force in February 2003. Village gateway signing and countdown markers will be erected;

  improvement works to the A84/A85 junction will start on site in February 2003;

  replacement of street lighting in Callander will be carried out by May 2003;

  alterations to the pelican crossing in Callander will be carried by May 2003;

  road maintenance scheme between Dunbeg and Oban Phase 2 has started on site and will be completed by March 2003, and

  the Lochearnhead footway scheme has been designed, although construction has been delayed due to land acquisition difficulties.

  The following works on the A84/85 are programmed for completion next year:

  a road and bridges scheme will be carried out to replace the bridge at the foot of Glen Ogle.

School Meals

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when it will launch the healthy eating campaign and the national standards for school meals.

Cathy Jamieson: The national healthy eating campaign, "healthyliving", was launched on 7 January 2003. An announcement about the standards for school meals, which are part of the report of the Expert Panel on School Meals, will be made shortly.

Sewel Motions

Roseanna Cunningham (Perth) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list all Sewel motions that it anticipates lodging with the Parliament before dissolution.

Patricia Ferguson: The Scottish Executive anticipates that the Parliament will be invited to approve Sewel motions in respect of the Sexual Offences Bill and the Local Government Bill. Discussions are taking place with the UK Government about the implications for Scotland of a number of other bills.

Sexual Offences

Mr Gil Paterson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-31209 by Mr Jim Wallace on 6 December 2002, how many offenders in secure accommodation have taken part in offence-related and offence-specific work in each of the last three years.

Mr Jim Wallace: The information requested is not held centrally.

Student Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many students (a) were entitled to and (b) received the minimum available student loan in each year since 1995.

Iain Gray: All students on eligible courses (with the exception of those who have defaulted on a previous student loan agreement) are eligible to receive the minimum level of student loan regardless of their family income. However, students are not obliged to take out the full amount of loan available to them and information on the numbers who have taken out the minimum loan could only be obtained by examining each student loan account and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.

Student Finance

Andrew Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-29824 by Iain Gray on 7 October 2002, what the average level of non-commercial debt was for a student completing four years of higher education, having undergone no previous sub-degree courses and having taken out the maximum available government support available, in each year since 1995.

Iain Gray: The maximum government support available to each student, including student loan support, will depend upon individual circumstances including family income. To calculate the average figure in each year would, therefore, be time consuming and incur a disproportionate cost.

Sustainable Development

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the contribution of lifelong learning to achieving sustainable development will be included in its final lifelong learning strategy to be produced early next year.

Iain Gray: The strategy, which will be launched shortly, will refer to the contribution of lifelong learning to achieving sustainable development, through a co-ordinated approach to economic development, social justice and active citizenship.

Vaccines

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive which vaccines available on the NHS contain thimerosal.

Malcolm Chisholm: The regulation and safety of medicines is reserved and is the responsibility of the Medicines Control Agency (MCA).

  The MCA has advised that diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (DTP) vaccine, with the exception of those containing acellular pertussis component; diphtheria and tetanus vaccines (DT/dT); tetanus vaccines (T); single hepatitis B vaccines; some hepatitis B combination products, and some influenza vaccines contain thiomersal (also referred to as thimerosal) as an excipient or use it in the manufacturing process.

Vaccines

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what research there is on any links between flu vaccines containing thimerosal and Alzheimer’s disease.

Malcolm Chisholm: The Scottish Executive is not aware of any research into links between flu vaccines containing thiomersal (also referred to as thimerosal) and Alzheimer’s disease.

Water Safety

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what assessment was made of the volume and nature of current and future effluent discharges into Lerwick Harbour from Scottish Water and private outfall pipes prior to the decision to withdraw Lerwick’s status as a high natural dispersion area.

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the extent was of the water quality sampling that was carried out prior to the decision to withdraw Lerwick’s status as a high natural dispersion area and what the sampling results were.

Tavish Scott (Shetland) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what the basis was of its assessment of the morphology, hydrology and hydraulic conditions in Lerwick Harbour that lead to the withdrawal of Lerwick’s status as a high natural dispersion area.

Ross Finnie: An assessment of high natural dispersion area (HNDA) status was made based on recommendations from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) on a comprehensive study undertaken by North of Scotland Water, which included analysis of morphology, hydrology and specific hydraulic conditions in Lerwick Harbour, and on SEPA’s monitoring of discharges into Lerwick Harbour. This review was required under the terms of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive (91/271/EEC), which seeks to protect the environment from adverse effects of such discharges.

Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body

Holyrood Project

Ms Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer when the landscape design contract in relation to the construction of the new Parliament building at Holyrood was put out to tender and advertised in the European Journal.

Sir David Steel: Landscaping design was included in the design competition for the new Scottish Parliament building, which was won by EMBT/RMJM Limited in July 1998. The advertisement for the competition for the Architectural Design Team appeared in the Official Journal of the European Communities (OJEC) in February 1998 and invitations to tender were issued to short listed candidates in June 1998.

Holyrood Project

Ms Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Presiding Officer whether, since the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body accepted responsibility for the Holyrood project, any contractors have left the site voluntarily or had their contract terminated prior to the completion of work required to be undertaken by them; if so, who the contractors were, between what dates the contractors were employed on the site, what the initial cost of the contract was, how much has been paid to them and what payments are outstanding, and what the reasons were for the termination of the contractual obligation.

Sir David Steel: Only one trade contract has been terminated before completion of works since the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB) took responsibility for the Holyrood Project. The contractor concerned was Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd, who were appointed on 26 January 2001 to undertake the MSP Building Cladding Trade Package. A notice of intention to terminate the contract was issued to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd on 26 September 2001 on the grounds of breach of contract. The initial contract value was £7,157,281.29. A total of £854,067 was paid to the company for work undertaken. The SPCB does not consider that any further payments are due to Flour City Architectural Metals (UK) Ltd.